Crickets are chirpin'
|
The water is high
|
There's a soft cotton dress
|
On the line hangin' dry
|
The windows wide open
|
African trees
|
Bent over backward
|
In a hurricane breeze
|
Not a word of goodbye
|
Not even a note
|
She's gone with the man
|
In the long black coat
|
|
Somebody seen him
|
Hangin' around
|
At the old dancehall
|
On the outskirts of town
|
He looked into her eyes
|
When she stopped him to ask
|
If he wanted to dance
|
He had a face like a mask
|
Somebody said
|
From the Bible he quoth
|
There was dust on the man
|
In the long black coat
|
|
|
Preacher was talkin'
|
There's a sermon he gave
|
He said, "Every man's conscience
|
Is vile & depraved.
|
You cannot depend on it
|
To be your guide
|
When it's you
|
Who must keep it satisfied."
|
It ain't easy to swallow
|
It sticks in the throat
|
She gave her heart to the man
|
In the long black coat
|
|
|
"There are no mistakes in life,"
|
Some people say
|
It's true sometimes
|
You can see it that way
|
People don't live or die
|
People just float
|
She left with the man
|
In the long black coat
|
|
|
There's smoke on the water
|
It's been there since June
|
Tree trunks uprooted
|
In the high crescent moon
|
Hear the pulse & vibration
|
And the rumbling force
|
Somebody's out there
|
Beating on a dead horse
|
She never said nothing
|
There was nothing she wrote
|
She's gone with the man
|
In the long black coat
|
|
-----------------
|
The man in the long black coat
|
Stan Ridgway |